


The Uninvited Guest

by AlleyMarie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Light Angst, M/M, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-20
Updated: 2015-03-20
Packaged: 2018-03-18 18:25:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3579450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyMarie/pseuds/AlleyMarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of strange occurrences in Severus' home lead him to believe that Remus Lupin is up to something, and Severus sets out to find out what. But in his search, Severus discovers what he least expected. (Post-war AU. Written as a gift for ShadowyCat, based on her prompt).</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Uninvited Guest

A slight breeze caressed Severus’ cheek, and a female voice whispered in his ear, “Wake up, Severus. It’s time for tea.”

He bolted upright in his chair, wand in hand. His narrowed gaze swept across the tiny, cramped sitting room and over the walls covered with bookshelves. Nothing stirred and the place was silent. Severus was alone. The old clock above the mantle read five minutes to three – the Muggle children who daily walked past the house on Spinner’s End on their way home would still be at school. The book he had been reading lay discarded at his feet. Severus concluded he must have dozed off and been dreaming. He sheathed the wand back into his sleeve and snatched the book off the floor, but his keen eyes continued to dart nervously around the room. He couldn’t help it.

Ever since the end of the war, he had struggled to find rest. What little sleep he got was plagued by nightmares, and his waking hours were no better. The slightest unexpected noise sent his heart racing: every creaking floor board could signal an enemy about to sneak up on him; every whisper of the wind could be an uttered Death Curse. Even though the war had been over for nearly a year, in Severus’ mind it was as if it had never ended … except his vigilance and keen senses no longer served any purpose other than to torture him. Most days he envied those who had perished.

He had just relaxed back into the chair and opened the book when he was startled by a loud crash coming from the kitchen, and this time Severus was sure it wasn’t a dream. He sprung to his feet, unsheathed his wand and whirled around in one fluid motion. There was no doubt that someone was moving about in the kitchen. Despite all his precautions, someone had gained entrance into his home. Wand pointed in front of him, Severus opened the bookshelf-covered door and crept up the stairs towards the source of the noise, but when he arrived at the kitchen he found it empty. His eyes searched the room and settled on the silver teakettle that sat in the sink and a broken plate on the floor. Severus didn’t remember leaving his teakettle out of the cupboard, and he would have most certainly remembered a broken plate. While Severus watched, the kettle rose from the sink, travelled across the room and set itself on the stove. There was a whooshing noise, and the burner under the kettle came alive with a cheery fire.

“Who’s here? Show yourself!” Severus commanded, but the room remained empty and silent.

Just then there was a knock at the front door. “Bloody prats. Not now,” Severus muttered.

It was an almost daily ritual – Muggle children throwing rocks at his windows, ringing his bell and taking off, sometimes leaving nasty items at his doorstep. He had disconnected the doorbell but that didn’t deter them – they just knocked. Just the previous week he had almost stepped on a strategically placed pile of dog excrement as he walked out his front door. To them he was the bogeyman, the creepy loner who seldom left his house and talked to no one … One day Severus would show them the real bogeyman!

He ignored the knocking and proceeded to survey the kitchen, casting several unsuccessful charms in an attempt to reveal the presence of an intruder. The knocking on the front door came again, more insistent this time. Severus turned on his heel and marched down the stairs, intent on putting an end once and for all to the children’s idiotic pranks. When he got through with them, no child – Muggle or Wizard – would ever dare set foot on this doorstep again. But when he threw the door open, his ire was replaced by momentary surprise. Instead of a wide-eyed Muggle child or an empty doorstep, Severus found Remus Lupin standing there, grinning idiotically at him.

“What are you doing here, Lupin?” He hadn’t seen the werewolf since before the end of the war and couldn’t fathom what would bring him to his door, not to mention his timing was most inconvenient.

Lupin continued to smile. “Well, I’m here for tea. Three o’clock, was it not? I realize I’m a couple of minutes late.”

Severus’ gaze narrowed as his suspicion grew. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lupin’s smile wavered and he no longer appeared so confident. “I’m talking about your Owl. Afternoon tea. My home. Thursday … three o’clock?” Lupin began to search through the pockets of his robe. “I have it here somewhere.”

Severus noticed for the first time that Lupin looked uncharacteristically smashing. He wore fine, dark green robes that were almost certainly new, his hair was neatly trimmed and combed, with only a hint of grey at the temples, and Severus’ nose even detected a hint of cologne. Lupin looked good and Severus suddenly felt self-conscious about his old, slept-in robes and unkempt hair.

“Don’t bother, Lupin. Goodbye.” Severus tried to close the door, but Lupin reached out a hand.

“Wait!”

“What?”

“Severus, I don’t understand. I did receive an invitation. It said to be here today at three o’clock sharp, for tea.”

Severus didn’t believe him for a moment. The werewolf was up to something. Although what that something was, he couldn’t guess. “Please explain to me why the hell I would invite you, of all people, over for tea?” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“I just thought … I thought that maybe you wanted the company.”

“Ha! …” Severus’ response was cut short by the shrill whistle of the teakettle on the stove.

Lupin’s smile returned. “Seems like I’m just in time after all.”

While he spoke, Lupin glanced past Severus at something inside the room. Severus turned his head and swallowed hard. Set neatly on the coffee table that had been empty only a moment before was a tray filled with scones, clotted cream and jam. The werewolf was eyeing these hungrily.

For an instant Severus felt as if he was losing his mind – a distinct possibility and not a pleasant one. But then his gaze narrowed on Lupin, and his anger grew. For years he had endured Lupin and his cohorts’ asinine pranks and incessant ribbing. Whatever Lupin had planned this time, Severus was not about to fall for it. He took a threatening step forward, wand at his side but still clutched in his grasp. “What are you up to, Lupin?” he said.

Lupin was no longer smiling. “I’m not up to anything. On second thought … just forget it!” He whirled around and started down the steps, toward the pavement.

Severus directed his attention back to the tray of food sitting on his coffee table. He wasn’t certain how Lupin had managed to get the tray past him without Severus noticing, but neither did he believe in coincidences. Somehow Lupin was responsible for the invasion of his home. Wary of touching the mysterious tray, he used magic to levitate it out the front door. He had half a mind to fling it at Lupin’s retreating back, but reconsidered at the last moment, and the tray flew past Lupin’s head, landing with a clatter on the street.

Severus didn’t wait to see Lupin’s reaction. He slammed the front door shut and marched back to the kitchen. He took the teakettle off the stove, turned off the burner and swiped his wand over the pieces of broken china on the floor, sending them into the wastebin. His home was back to normal, but Severus was nonetheless unnerved by the incident. If Lupin could so easily wriggle his way past Severus’ defences in order to play a prank on him, however childish, there was no telling what other kind of vermin might make its way in. Severus resolved to find out exactly how Lupin had done it, and then make sure he could never do it again.

***

Remus entered his little cottage in the outskirts of Bethnal Green and slammed the door shut behind him. He felt like a fool. He had been surprised to receive an Owl from Snape, but also excited. It seemed foolish indeed, now that he thought about it, to think Severus would just let bygones of their youth be bygones and reach out to him in friendship, but that was exactly what he had concluded when the invitation had arrived. After two wars and more than two decades, it seemed like the reasonable thing to do – he had forgotten how unreasonable Severus Snape could be. When the large box from Madam Malkin’s had arrived the next day, Remus had been touched and more than a little flattered. He had dared hope that the invitation meant more than he had originally thought. Even now, the thought sent a flutter of excitement through Remus’ gut. He scoffed. _Fool_.

With the afternoon wide open now that his plans had been so abruptly dashed, Remus ambled into his kitchen and set his own teakettle on the stove. He reached into the pantry for a loaf of bread, remembering the scrumptious-looking scones he had glimpsed on Snape’s coffee table. It was obvious that Snape had been expecting him – or at least expecting someone – for tea. He wondered what had made the cantankerous wizard change his mind about inviting Remus over.

It really didn’t matter. Remus was just lonely – it was the only explanation for his foolhardiness. With Tonks dead and Teddy staying at Andromeda’s, the house felt too empty. He had been alone most of his life, but had seldom felt truly lonely, at least not in the way he had felt in the last year. He should be grateful he no longer had to travel from place to place, scavenging for menial jobs while trying to hide his Lycanthropy, thanks to the modest pension the Ministry had granted him for his services during the war. But that also left more free hours in the day, hours he spent thinking about what he’d had and lost: a lover, a family of his own, a real home. _‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all_.

Remus would have to disagree. The certain knowledge of what could be was driving him crazy, crazy enough to think that Severus Snape might harbour some interest in him, the same kind of interest Remus had harboured for him since they were both students at Hogwarts.

He fixed himself a cup of tea and took it into the study, forgetting about the sandwich he had planned to make.

That night, when he was about to get ready for bed, he looked at himself in the mirror and took in the image of him in the expensive robes and neatly trimmed hair. Was there something about his appearance that had put Severus off? Lupin was no longer a teenager, and he had led a tougher life than most, yet today he thought he looked better than he had in years. He started to disrobe and something fell out of his pocket. It was the Owl he had received from Severus – the one with the invitation for tea scrawled on it. He picked it up, thought of throwing it away and reconsidered. He placed it in his top dresser drawer instead. Feeling lost and more than a bit disillusioned, he removed the robes, set them over a chair and climbed into bed.

***

“Are you certain, Plinius?” Severus asked the little wizard who stood in his kitchen.

The shrivelled old man stared up at him through beady, sparkling eyes. “Absolutely. I have eighty years of experience in the field, and I can assure you there is no ghost in this house, no trace of spectral activity, not now and not for a very long time.”

Severus sighed in frustration. Plinius was a respected expert in ghosts, hauntings and all types of spectral activity. Severus had to pull some strings and call in a few favours to get an appointment with him so quickly. Ever since Lupin’s visit a week earlier, the strange occurrences in Severus’ home had only increased. Items appeared in his bedroom every evening, things were moved during the night, and even more irritating was the intermittent clatter accompanied by various overturned or broken items. Severus had exhausted every method at his disposal to unravel the mystery, which had led him to consider the possibility that his home was haunted.

“Can I have another look at these?” Plinius said, pointing at an assortment of items on the kitchen table.

Severus nodded, and Plinius leaned over the table for a closer look: a dark blue silk robe; a small purple bottle filled with a potion that Severus had identified as Benamatum Elixir, a powerful aphrodisiac; a leather bound volume of erotic stories with a graphic depiction of two naked male bodies entwined on the cover; scented massage oils; an assortment of sex toys and a single red rose. Severus shifted uncomfortably. It was the nature of these items that had caused Severus to avoid notifying the Ministry or involving any Aurors – surely there would be questions and speculation, not to mention snickering at his expense. The items had first appeared the day after Lupin’s visit. Severus had disposed of them several times, but each evening when he retired, there they were again: the robe draped over the foot of his bed; the potion, book and oils on his nightstand; and the rose on his pillow.

“Yes, there does seem to be a theme here.”

“You don’t say?” Severus said softly.

Plinius chuckled, and it almost sounded like a tinkle of bells. “I might be old, but not so old that I’ve forgotten everything. Taking these items at face value, I would say you have an admirer … a very eager one, I would say.”

Severus’ eyes narrowed, and he pressed his lips together until his mouth was nothing more than a pale, angry slash across his face.

The old wizard eyed Severus up and down. He placed his fist in front of his mouth and coughed lightly. “I see,” he said. “Well then, are you sure that someone isn’t playing … oh, I don’t know … some sort of prank on you?”

“It’s possible,” Severus admitted.

That had been Severus’ very thought at first, and he had been sure who the culprit was. Trouble was he couldn’t figure out how Lupin could be doing it. The reason why was obvious – it was the kind of immature and fatuous joke Lupin and his friends would have enjoyed at his expense back in their school days – but the how was baffling. Severus had set traps, cast charms and even erected wards around his home in an effort to make the incidents stop, all to no avail.

“Any ideas who the person behind it might be?”

“Only one,” Severus muttered.

“Well, then, I suggest you speak to this wizard, find out his intentions.”

“Wizard? What makes you think it’s a wizard and not a witch?”

Plinius pointed at the book. “I’m familiar. Like I said, I’m not _that_ old.”

Severus felt heat rise to his cheeks. In his search for clues, he had leafed through the book. The stories were not only quite explicit, but all the characters who engaged in sexual acts were male. Severus had meant to throw the book away with the rest of the items, but he had been drawn in by the stories and had read every single one. The embarrassing part was how arousing he’d found them. Of course, there was no way for the old wizard to know that.

Plinius smiled, bending down to pick up his small valise. When he straightened, he must have bumped into a nearby chair, and it fell on its side with a crash. Severus startled.

“Oh, how clumsy of me.” Plinius picked up the chair and placed it back in its proper place. “There. No harm done, I hope.”

“None,” said Severus.

“Well, looks like my work here is finished.”

“Thank you for stopping by on such short notice. How much do I owe you?”

Plinius dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “It was hardly any trouble, considering there’s no unwanted haunting for me to deal with.”

Severus nodded. “Then let me see you to the door.”

After the wizard had left, Severus marched back to the kitchen and proceeded to toss away the items on the table, like he did every day. He paused when he picked up the book. During his time at Hogwarts, Severus had enjoyed a short-lived, secret fling with another boy in his House. He wondered if Lupin had found out about it and that was why he had now chosen this particular book to torment him with. Severus flung the book into the wastebin after the other items.

Plinius was right, Severus would have to speak to Lupin if he was going to make the madness stop. Of course, the werewolf wouldn’t just confess, but Severus was already formulating a plan, one that would beat Lupin at his own game.

***

Remus was putting away the last of the dishes when Severus’ Owl arrived:

_You’re hereby cordially invited for dinner at my home._  
_Tomorrow. Six in the evening._  
_You know the address._

_Severus Snape_

That was it. No apology and no explanation for the slight of the previous week. Remus set the piece of parchment down on the counter and glared at it as if it might jump up and bite him. If he had any sense, he would decline the invitation until he received an apology or at least an explanation – it was the dignified thing to do. On the other hand, he couldn’t deny he was intrigued.

During the past week, Lupin had often found himself thinking about Severus. More than once, he’d read through the old invitation he kept tucked away in his drawer. He had even considered sending Severus an Owl, or maybe just showing up at his door and asking for an explanation. Only wariness of what the unpredictable wizard might say or do had stopped him. Tired of pondering, Remus made up his mind. He would accept Severus’ invitation, but he wouldn’t hold out any hopes. He would dress in his usual robes and go see the wizard. What happened after that, he would see.

The following evening, Remus made his way to Severus’ house. His knuckles had barely brushed the door when it swung open and Severus stood on the other side.

“Good evening, Lupin. Please come in,” Severus said. He wore crisp black robes, and his nearly shoulder length hair was shiny and neatly combed, the right side tucked behind his ear, the other falling like a curtain over his left eye.

The sitting room was cramped and stuffy. Remus heard the front door close softly behind him.

“This way,” Severus said.

The table in the small dining room was elegantly set, with matching china, folded napkins, goblets and even a floral arrangement in the centre.

“Have a seat.” Severus motioned toward one of the chairs. “I will serve.”

“Very well.”

Remus smiled. Severus had prepared roast beef with horseradish sauce, carrots, potatoes and Yorkshire pudding – he sure was making up for the afternoon tea fiasco.

“Thank you for coming,” Severus said once they were both seated.

“I almost didn’t. After last time …”

“Yes. That was … a regrettable misunderstanding. I hope you don’t hold it against me.”

Remus found he didn’t. “This is delicious, Severus. Didn’t know you were such a good cook.”

Severus paused, the fork partway to his lips. “Can’t say I do it often.”

Remus nodded in understanding. It was difficult to cook for oneself alone. It hardly seemed worth the effort, and eating out every night was expensive, so most times he made do with sandwiches and soup himself. The only time Remus got a decent meal was on weekends, when he visited Teddy at Andromeda’s.

The meal went well, much better than Remus had anticipated, although a few times he caught Severus staring intently at him from behind the curtain of his black hair. He had to admit it felt a bit strange to be sitting in a room alone with Severus, sharing a meal and light conversation. He tried to imagine what James and Sirius would say if they could see him, and the thought made him scowl.

“Something wrong?” Severus asked.

Remus shook his head. “No. Nothing at all.”

James and Sirius were gone. And even if they weren’t, none of them were children anymore. Remus had always felt that if he could have stood up to his two friends back then, things would have been different between him and Severus. Tonight he had a chance to change that.

After dinner, the two retired to the sitting room.

“Scotch?” Severus offered.

Remus nodded and took a seat on the sofa. Severus returned with two tumblers of scotch, and Remus was surprised when he took a seat next to him. It was hard for him to know how to proceed. He knew there were things between him and Severus that needed to be addressed, but he worried that bringing up the past would shatter the tenuous truce Severus seemed to have declared between them.

“Severus, I …” Remus began, but he paused when he noticed a book on the table. It seemed familiar. He leaned closer to look at the cover. He was quite familiar with the volume – in fact had read it many times. It wasn’t the kind of book one left lying around for casual company to glimpse. Severus was clearly trying to give him a message without saying the words … leave it to the brazen wizard to be so coy about his own sexuality. Remus suppressed a smile.

***

Severus knew the moment Remus’ eye caught sight of the book, by the change in his expression. _Good_ , he thought, _let him squirm_. He sipped his scotch slowly.

“Something the matter?” he asked.

“Not really. It’s just that … that book, I recognize it, is all.”

“Do you, now?”

“Someone gave me a copy, once. As a gift.”

“I see. I can put it away if it makes you … uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable? No, just a bit surprised, I guess. This book doesn’t exactly … let’s say it’s not a book I would expect you to have.”

Severus narrowed his gaze when Remus winked at him – the impudent scoundrel. Thus far the evening had been unsuccessful. He had been sure that Remus would have done or said something by now to expose where his actions of the past week were leading – Severus had prodded and baited under the guise of casual conversation – but so far Remus had revealed nothing. His surprise at finding the book he had placed in Severus’ home displayed prominently on the coffee table was promising, though. Severus took the advantage he was offered and pounced on it. He swallowed the rest of his scotch and leaned forward.

“I think you’ll find I’m a man of eclectic tastes. I enjoy all kinds of … books,” he said.

Severus watched Remus’ Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed hard. Whether he had sought to shame Severus for his preferences or ridicule him because of his discomfort about sexual matters, surely he hadn’t anticipated this.

Severus leaned forward, lips parted, and waited for Remus to recoil, to jump to his feet. Instead, the other man leaned in until their lips met. Remus’ lips were warm and soft. It felt good to be kissed, and Severus allowed the kiss to linger perhaps a little longer than he should have. When he pulled away, he was taken aback by the tenderness in Remus’ gaze. Remus reached out a hand. For a moment Severus thought he was going to touch his face, and was surprised to realize that part of him wanted that. Instead, Remus buried his fingers in the hair at Severus’ nape, pulled him forward and kissed him again, hard.

Remus broke the kiss, but he didn't go far. Severus felt his wet, warm tongue brush against his mouth, and his lips parted again of their own volition. This wasn’t what Severus had expected – it didn’t make sense – and he almost panicked.

“I want you,” Remus whispered between kisses. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”

It was a lie, Severus knew, but felt unable to tear himself away from the warm lips, the soft words. Surely Remus wouldn’t take the charade any further than this.

“Should we retire to the bedroom?” Remus asked.

Severus could only nod. He warily led Remus to the bedroom. His heart was racing. It was like standing at the edge of a cliff, waiting for the ground to crumble beneath his feet but unable to pull back. Once inside the bedroom, he turned around to face Remus. A soft light filled the room, and he realized Remus had used his wand to turn on the small lamp next to the bed.

“I want to see you. All of you,” Remus said, and he reached for Severus’ robes.

Severus’ hand shot out and grasped Remus’ wrist. “No,” he managed to say.

Remus smiled. “Alright, I’ll go first.” He undid his robes and let them drop to the floor to pool at his feet. His underwear followed, and he stood, bold and naked, in front of Severus.

His body was lean and scarred, but also muscular, and his thick cock jutted out from a nest of brown curls. Severus couldn’t help but stare, and he felt himself grow hard. He wanted Remus. Not just his kisses, but all of him. It’s the scotch, he thought. Had Remus somehow managed to sneak something into his glass? Severus’ eyes darted to the bottle of Benamatum Elixir on his nightstand. No, it was impossible. He was too careful, and the scotch had never been out of his sight or possession.

Remus eyes followed Severus’ gaze, and he raised an eyebrow. “Do you want some?” he asked.

“Are you crazy?” Severus shot back. “Do you have the slightest idea what that potion does?”

Remus walked to stand directly in front of him. “No worse than what you’re doing to me.”

Severus felt Remus’ arms coil around him, was aware of the insistent pressure of the werewolf’s hard cock rubbing against his groin … and then Remus was kissing him again. Severus made one feeble attempt to push him away, and Remus responded by pressing harder against him.

“Don’t you want me?” Remus asked between ragged breaths.

It was a loaded question, and Severus wondered what would happen if he answered it truthfully. Would he be rewarded with more kisses or would Remus pull away and mock him?

“I do,” he said before he could stop himself. Remus' reaction was unexpected but welcomed.

Remus pushed him and they both fell onto the bed. The werewolf’s hands were everywhere: in Severus’ hair, traveling down his back, under the robes, between his legs. Severus found himself naked without knowing how.

“Spread your legs,” he heard Remus say.

And he did. Still unsure of where it all would lead, but too intoxicated with desire to care. 

“Severus, we need …”

Severus pointed to the bottles of oil on the nightstand. Part of him wanted Remus to pour the oil over his body and touch him all over, but knew he wouldn’t. Their need was too urgent. Remus’ fingers were already inside him – filling him, stretching him – and Severus pushed wantonly against them.

“Damn it, Remus. Stop mucking around and fuck me!”

Remus grabbed the back of his thighs and pushed his legs up, then entered him swiftly. Severus squeezed his eyes shut.

“Look at me,” Remus said above him, and Severus obeyed.

He looked straight into the eyes of Remus Lupin, the man he had spent half his life hating and was no longer sure even why. And what he saw in those eyes surprised him. It wasn’t mockery or pity, but a burning intensity that both frightened and excited him. But Severus didn’t have time to ponder these emotions because Remus was moving inside him in a frantic rhythm, pushing his need higher. And when he felt Remus’ fingers wrap around his cock, Severus threw his head back and gasped as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through his body, plunging him into an abyss from which he never wanted to return.

When it had passed, Remus pecked him on the lips and rolled off him to lie on his back.

Severus waited, their ragged breathing the only sound in the room.

“I must say, you surprise me,” Remus said finally.

“How so?”

“Oh, the invitation, the dinner, the book, how you planned all this.”

Swift as a striking snake, Severus rolled to the side and landed on top of Remus, straddling the other’s hips and effectively pinning him to the bed.

“I planned nothing. This was all your doing, Lupin,” he spat.

Remus looked genuinely stunned. “Me? Severus, I swear. When I came here I had no intention of … Okay, maybe I hoped, just a bit, but I didn’t plan to ….”

Too late, Severus remembered they were both still naked. He felt Remus’ sinewy body beneath him, the sleek cock pressed against his own. Worse, Severus felt his own body respond. Emotions warred inside him: the desire to punish Remus and the need to possess him. In the end, need won out. If Remus wanted to lie about what he had done, let him. Severus would one day figure out the truth and demand satisfaction. But in the meantime he had this … and maybe having Remus warm and willing beneath him was satisfaction enough.

Remus was still trying to explain.

“Shut up,” Severus said, and kissed him hard.

_Three Months Later_

It was almost midnight, but the last of Severus’ belongings were finally packed and moved to the cottage in Bethnal Green. Remus put away his wand and took a last look around the tiny sitting room. Even empty, the room still had a cramped and stuffy atmosphere … like a cell. He was glad Severus had accepted his invitation to move in with him.

“Was that the last of it, then?” Severus said from across the room.

“Looks like it.”

It had been a long day. Earlier that evening, Remus and Severus had attended a memorial to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, followed by a sombre reunion of the survivors. It had been a trying year, but the mourning period was over and it was now time for new beginnings.

“What are you smiling at, Lupin?”

Remus didn’t realize he had been smiling. “I’m just happy,” he said.

Snape scoffed. “You smile too much.”

“And you don’t smile enough.” Remus would have to work on that. He walked up to the wizard and kissed him on the lips. “Ready?” he asked.

Severus didn’t answer. His dark eyes swept across the room, and he remained still, as if listening, waiting for something.

The house was quiet. It had been that way for the last three months. Severus had told Remus about the strange activity that had taken place there – objects moving around on their own, strange items appearing, the clatter and the overturned furniture – but Remus hadn’t witnessed any of it. It had all stopped after the first night he had spent with Severus.

The strangeness of it all didn’t bother him – it had brought them together – but Severus was unable to let it go. Earlier that evening, at the reunion, Severus had cornered a wide-eyed and startled Miss Granger, calling her a meddlesome witch and demanding she tell him how she had done it. Sometimes Remus thought Severus still suspected him of being the one responsible, although Severus no longer questioned him about it. Severus didn’t believe in fate or miracles, but Remus did.

“Severus?” he asked.

“I’m ready.”

Remus produced his wand and was ready to Disapparate when out of the corner of his eye he caught a movement just outside the window. His head jerked around and he stared. For an instant he thought he saw someone standing there, someone familiar. Whoever it had been, they were gone now.

“What is it?” Severus asked.

Remus shook his head. “Nothing. I just thought I saw someone looking into the window.”

“Bloody prats. Don’t they sleep?” Severus muttered just before they both Disapparated.

Neither saw the young woman standing at the end of the street next to a tiny old wizard. She tilted her head and looked at the starry sky above, a satisfied smile on her lips.

“Seems like your work here is done,” the old man said.

“Thank you for covering for me, Plinius. I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

“He’s a stubborn one, that Severus, isn’t he?”

The young woman nodded. “But he’s also strong. Remus needs that, you know, someone strong to stand by his side.”

“It’s almost midnight, and today is the one year anniversary. The Veil has almost fallen. If you wait much longer, you’ll be trapped here.”

“I know. I just wanted to have one last look.”

“They’ll be fine. I’ll check on them once in a while, I promise.”

The woman continued to stare at the stars. “I just want Remus to be happy. I always knew, you know? Even while we were married, I knew it was Severus he longed for.”

“It doesn’t mean he didn’t love you …”

“I know.”

“You did a good thing, Nymphadora.”

“The name is Tonks,” she said as a distant clock began to chime the stroke of midnight and she dissipated, like a mist, into the night.

~The End~


End file.
